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PHILADELPHIA - In the collegiate debut for the University of Pennsylania men's lightweight freshmen, the Quakers posted wins in the Freshman 8+ and Freshman fours on Saturday at the Navy Day Regatta on the Schuylkill River.

On a beatiful Fall day in Philadelphia - no clouds and almost no wind - the 2012 season officially got underway for the Red and Blue with the varsity fours. The Quakers finished second among the nine boats with a great finish for the runner-up position. Penn edged New York Maritime at the line by less than four-tenths of a second. The Quakers finished about 10 seconds behind Navy with a time of 15:15.49.

A short while later, the freshmen posted their first victory of the day with a first-place finish in the freshmen heavyweight 8 event. Penn was the top boat by more than seven seconds. The Quakers outpaced their heavyweight schoolmates for the win at 13:18.26. The two Penn boats were more than 20 seconds faster than the rest of the competition.

In the varsity 8 race, the Quakers finished third. The Red and Blue oarsmen were well ahead of the rest of the field, but finished close behind Navy and Delaware. Penn came across the finish line in 13:14.80 to claim the bronze among the six boats.

To cap the day, the freshmen repeated their early morning success in the heavyweight fours. Of the 17 boats, the Quakers were the only one to break 15 minutes in the event - and did so easily with a time of 14:39.74. The Penn heavyweights were second at 15:00.46.

The varsity wore pink racing shirts this weekend
in honor of both the Jog for Jill Foundation and Breast Cancer
Awareness month. The team is also making a donation to the Jog for Jill foundation to help find a cure! You can join the Penn Rowing Team in their support of this event. If you would like to donate please click here. If you would like to read more about Jill’s story see here and see a video about Jill’s story here.

Up next for the Quakers is the historic Head of the Charles on Sunday, Oct. 21 in Boston, Mass.